


All the Time in the Universe

by Welfycat



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: stargateland, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-07
Updated: 2012-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-29 03:55:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welfycat/pseuds/Welfycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dating on Atlantis is harder than it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the Time in the Universe

It had been two months since David Parrish had asked him out. Evan could remember that day very clearly. They'd been off-world helping to scout for yet another alpha site after the last one had been discovered by the Wraith. David had asked him to come with him while he took samples from the local lake and the tributary that came down from the mountains. The weather had been nice, the planet quiet except for the occasional calls from the rest of the exploratory team and small birds whistling overhead in the trees, and for once David wasn't cataloguing the plant life out-loud. Evan didn't mind when he did, but it was nice to just have some quiet and David seemed to feel similarly. On the way back David had asked him if he was interested in having dinner or something some time.

"Dinner?" Evan had asked, not exactly sure what David was asking. David was an auxiliary member of Evan's team and they both frequently ate meals with each other and their other teammates.

"Or something," David had repeated. He'd adjusted the strap of his pack and looked out at the trees. "You know, not with the rest of the team. Just us."

"Just us. Like a date?" Evan had tried to keep the quiet surge of hope from his voice, but he had a feeling that he hadn't succeeded.

"Yeah. A date." David had plucked a rather interesting piece of bark from the floor of the forest and ran his hands over it before offering it to Evan.

"I'd like that," Evan had said and had been profoundly grateful when Coughlin's radio call stopped the conversation before he could say something incredibly awkward.

It had been two months since that trip, Evan still had that piece of bark sitting on top of his dresser, and they still hadn't managed to have dinner - or something.

The first three dinners they'd arranged to have with each other, Evan had wound up canceling; once because of an emergency in the city and twice because he'd been called off-world for a rescue mission. When he'd apologized and told David that he really did want to go out with him, David had promised that he understood.

The next dinner David had to cancel because he was in quarantine in the infirmary with most of the rest of the botanists. Evan had come to the observation window and waved, and a tall figure in an isolation suit had waved back. Evan was pretty sure that had been David he'd waved at.

Mutually they decided that dinner together wasn't going to happen and tried to arrange for a mid-day walk on one of the piers. Three weeks later they figured that mid-day wasn't actually a better time. They were walking to an off-world market and during the brief periods they could talk to each other without being overheard they decided that they would email in the morning if they thought they might have time off later in the day.

So far they'd managed to actually sit down for a meal together twice before Weir or Sheppard called Evan over his radio. The first time they'd gotten five minutes together, the second time David had just barely set down his tray.

Evan was getting close to just giving up on the entire idea of dating while on Atlantis when he realized his team was scheduled for an off-world mission that afternoon and David had arranged to join them for sample collection. Six hours later, it was dark and they were holed up inside a cave while the land outside flooded.

"This explains the high concentration of oxygen in the top soil yet the relative lack of large plant life on the valley floor. If floods like this happen frequently, it would seriously hamper the efforts of any significant growth," David said as he peered out into the heavy rain.

"But we should be okay up here?" Evan asked, eyeing the mouth of the cave with suspicion.

"I think so," David said, seemingly unconcerned that he wasn't certain.

Coughlin and Reed came back into the main section of the cave. "Doesn't look like anything else uses this as their home and it doesn't go very deep," Coughlin said.

"Seems like we're staying put for a while. Maybe we can get Atlantis to send a raft," Evan said, only half joking.

The ate their MREs by the light of their flashlights and settled in for the night. Evan took first watch and sat by the front of the cave, watching the rising waterline and the unceasing rain.

"By my count, this is our fifth date," David said quietly as he joined him.

"How so?" Evan asked, mostly used to David starting conversations right in the middle with no explanation.

"Walking on Calandra counts as the first. Dinner with the Sagitetions is the second," David said, recounting some of their more peaceful missions.

"Swimming in the ocean of P3X-832?" Evan asked.

David shook his head. "It doesn't count if we nearly died."

"Okay, how about the festival on Pridan? Only Coughlin nearly died and it wasn't a close call." Evan couldn't help but laugh as he remembered Coughlin fleeing the tents with two locals chasing him towards the woods.

"That counts. And walking through the off-world market on Sydon was the forth," David listed. "So, we've been on five dates and you haven't even tried to hold my hand or kiss me."

Evan smiled. "It's a little difficult to do that when the rest of the team is around."

"But they're asleep now," David pointed out.

Evan shone his flashlight in the direction of their teammates. "So they are."

David moved closer so that they were pressed side by side and held out one of his hands.

Evan took it in his, examining the calluses that came from working with the land instead of working with guns. "On our fifth date we held hands while the world flooded around us."

"Somehow that sounds more romantic than it feels right now. I'm freezing," David said after a moment.

Evan rearranged the thin thermal blanket David had dragged over so that it would cover both of them to keep the heat in better. "It can be romantic when we look back on it later."

"Okay," David agreed.

They sat and listened to the rain and felt each other breath for the first time.


End file.
